Balinese Traditional Healing
Vivek Neelakantan
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) October 26, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23666439 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that "Balinese Traditional Healing" is a ritual system incorporating Tantric Hinduism into a Southeast Asian cultural framework, in which balian healers mediate between the tangible (skala) and intangible (niskala) realms. The entry proposes two main healer types: Balian Usada, who derive knowledge from palm-leaf manuscripts (lontar), and Balian Kebal, who receive spiritual power (sakti) through trance and are more commonly associated with treating hysteria and spirit-related disturbances. Illness is understood as disharmony with the five elements (pancha bhuta), addressed through ritual, spiritual, and herbal interventions, with Melukat as the key ritual. |
Abstract
Balinese healing traditions are grounded in a cyclical worldview, where the process of illness, purification and restoration alternate between fullness and emptiness, harmony and imbalance, microcosm and macrocosm. Within this healing tradition, bodily disorders, healing rituals such as Melukat, and the cosmological order are interwoven, rendering the experience of disease, purification and restoration legible within Balinese Hindu frameworks of lived religion (Geertz 1973; Reynolds 1995; Stephen 2017). This entry argues "Balinese Traditional Healing" is a ritual system of healing that incorporate elements of Tantric Hinduism into a Southeast Asian cultural framework, as practiced by healers themselves (balian). Healing rituals within this system might aim to restore life force (bayu) or extirpate spiritual impurity (leteh). The healers (balian) utilize both spiritual and herbal remedies as they mediate between the tangible (skala) and intangible (niskala) realms (McCauley 1988). Balian might use hand-gestures (mudra) and herbal medicine (boreh) in their practice as they treat disease as both a biological entity as well as a socio-spiritual disequilibrium. Further, balian can be classified into two main categories of healer: 1) The Balian Usada, who is a healer that derives their medical knowledge through the study of palm-leaf manuscripts (lontar); and 2) Balian Kebal (also known as Balian Ketakson) who receive spiritual power (sakti) that is bestowed upon them through trance experiences, with the latter category being more commonly associated with treating hysteria and spirit-related disturbances (Simeon 1977). Balian Kebal often act as spirit mediums, as they propitiate chthonic agents at the Pura Dalem (temple for the unpurified dead) (Connor 1995). Within Balinese healing rituals, the human body is conceptualized as the microcosm (buana alit), reflecting the macrocosm (buana agung) (Stephen 2002). Balian diagnose illness through a combination of spiritual and bodily assessment grounded in the Balinese cosmological understanding of the five elements (pancha bhuta): air, water, earth, fire, and ether. The origins of disease are understood as arising from disharmony between bodily conditions and the pancha bhuta, requiring ritual, spiritual, and herbal interventions to restore equilibrium. While there are many smaller rituals in the system, the key ritual in the Balinese Usada tradition is Melukat, which includes cleansing baths, mantra recitation, and meditation.